Already have an account?
Get back to the

Fantastic Four’s Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara React to Racist Radio Interview: “Just Ignorance”

Huffington Post Live logo

There’s no doubt comic book fans will head to the theaters in droves Friday to see Fantastic Four, but two radio DJs in Atlanta won’t be among them. Enduring a racist and sexist interview with Atlanta’s Rock 100.5 Mornings on July 30, costars Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara handled the interviewers’ insults like total pros at the time. Nearly a week later, the actors tell HuffPost Live that they’e still reeling from the interviewers’ insensitivity. 

“From what I’ve seen, you’re brother and sister,” the disc jockey asked Jordan, who plays Johnny Storm, the brother of Mara’s Sue Storm in the film. “You’re white and you’re black. How does that happen?”

kate mara and michael b. jordan
Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara promoted Fantastic Four in Miami on July 31, 2015

“They could be raised as brother and sister,” Jordan replied. “There’s a whole bunch of family dynamics that could be without the obvious adoption.”

The radio hosts later told Mara she was “way hot,” with one going into detail about how he creepily liked her toes because he was a “toe guy.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebs fight back

In Jordan’s opinion, the disc jockeys totally crossed the line. “Sometimes journalists use that [studio] room as a safety net to ask questions they never would have asked you outside of that arena,” the Friday Night Lights alum admitted. “As actors, sometimes we feel pressure to always say what you’re supposed to in promoting a film. We don’t want to bring any negativity toward the positive message [of the film], but we’re still people, and still human.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celeb flubs on live TV

Agreed Mara: “It’s just ignorance.”

Fantastic Four costar Jamie Bell is urging fans not to be tied to previously conceived notions of the film and its characters, because as with Jordan’s casting in the role of Johnny Storm, who is depicted as white in the comic books, things may be different.

“When it comes to making something, especially when you want to do something different, you have to disassociate yourself from those [superfans who want things a certain way] and make it for yourself, and not be influenced by anything other than your own creative decisions,” Bell told HuffPost Live. “Both camps – us actors and the movie makers and fans – are coming from the same place: We just want to make a good movie.”

Have a question you’d like to ask a celebrity? Check out who will be appearing on HuffPost Live and submit your question to be asked live on-air!

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!